Orphaned as a child, Cahal Kinsella returns from an industrial school in Letterfrack to the small farming village of Caherlo in West Galway, to live under the rule of his tyrannical grandfather. Cahal must learn to assert his individuality if he is to have any hope of freedom from his misery. With humour and humanity, Walter Macken paints a haunting, memorable portrait of the hard life of subsistence farming, of loveless arranged marriages, and rebellion against suffocating social mores. Written in 1952, this masterpiece is brought back to life in New Island’s Modern Irish Classics series.

In Ireland in 1826 millions knew only famine, oppression and degradation. The landlords ground down the tenant famers; tithe wars and injustice were rife. But Dualta Duane battles against tyranny, struggling to survive the evils of hunger, poverty and disease. Courageous and fortified by an enduring love, Duane's unconquerable spirit personifies the love of freedom that raged in the soul of Ireland.

From boyhood to manhood big, gentle Mico had but two passions in life - the sea, and a young girl so terrible lovely-lookin' it raised your heart to heaven just to see her smile. But with a hideous birthmark on his cheek, a Jonah to those he loved, and only the simple life of a fisherman to offer, how could he hope to win Maeve? The white-capped waves and a great old black bitch of a boat brought the answer . . .

From boyhood to manhood big, gentle Mico had but two passions in life - the sea, and a young girl so terrible lovely-lookin' it raised your heart to heaven just to see her smile. But with a hideous birthmark on his cheek, a Jonah to those he loved, and only the simple life of a fisherman to offer, how could he hope to win Maeve? The white-capped waves and a great old black bitch of a boat brought the answer . . .

This is a vivid and memorable novel set in Dublin, 1916, during the Easter Rebellion and the bitter years which followed. Through the diverging lives of two young brothers the agony of Ireland during these harrowing times is witnessed. It is the time of the Sinn Fein, of the dreaded Tans, of terrible deeds and of loyalties strained to breaking-point and beyond.

It is 1649. As the English soldiers trample the Irish homesteads, leaving behind them a trail of barbarity and destruction, a few brave men set out to seek a 'fair land' over the brow of the hill. Among them is Dominick MacMahon, whose wife has been killed in the bloody massacre of Drogheda, and whose son and daughter, and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian, accompany him. But as he journeys in search of peace and freedom he is relentlessly pursued by Coote, the Cromwellian ruler of Connaught . . .

The famine that left a cold hand on Irish hearts In the first half of the 19th century - Ireland's most desolate period - the landlords ground down the tenant farmers, injustice was rife and starvation stalked through the land. An age of oppression, monster meetings, tithe wars, and degradation. Dualta Duane battles against tyranny and struggles to survive the evils of hunger, poverty and disease. Courageous and fortified by an enduring love, Duane's unconquerable spirit personifies the love of freedom that raged in the soul of Ireland.

This is the story of Stephen O'Riordan, a true son of the wild and beautiful land of Connemara, of his hopes and ambitions, and of his passionate and stormy love for Kathleen, sister of his bitterest enemy . . . It is also the story of Ireland after twenty-five years of liberty, like Stephen new in its freedom and thought yet primitive in its emotions, its people witty, bawdy, boozy, hard-working, loud-voiced or gentle - but never dull . . .

It is 1649. As the English soldiers trample the Irish homesteads, leaving behind them a trail of barbarity and destruction, a few brave men set out to seek a 'fair land' over the brow of the hill. Among them is Dominick MacMahon, whose wife has been killed in the bloody massacre of Drogheda, and whose son and daughter, and a wounded priest, Father Sebastian, accompany him. But as he journeys in search of peace and freedom he is relentlessly pursued by Coote, the Cromwellian ruler of Connaught . . .

Sullivan was a born actor. Blessed and cursed with the artist's gifts and temperament in full measure, he could hold an audience, or a woman's heart, in the palm of his hand. From a boyhood stuffed with multi-coloured dreams to defy Galway's slums, through fit-ups and fairs in the Irish countryside, to struggle and renown in Dublin, London and New York, his crowded, generous journey was rich in comedies, disappointments and surprises. Success was as capricious as the seasons. But when it came, was it enough? Could it replace the one girl who had learnt always to expect the unexpected from Sullivan . . . ?

Careless of the hurts he inflicts along the way, Bart O'Breen walks his own road, as proud as the devil and as lonely as hell. In the Galway village of Boola, Bart O'Breen is a strong wilful young man who leaves trouble and harm in his wake. As always in a novel by Walter Macken, there is a host of memorable secondary characters, and an unfailing accuracy and warmth in the depiction of the life of the "plain people" of the west of Ireland. One of Walter Macken's finest novels, Sunset on the Window-Panes is a moving and memorable story of Irish life.

Like his father before him, Donn is born to the now mythical role of the Lord of the Mountain, a remote community in rural Ireland, unmarked by the passage of time. But Donn longs for a wider kingdom. He deserts his bride, roams the world, fights in wars, is footloose - yet finds that he is homesick. Sixteen years later he returns to take up the threads of his old life, to learn to love his afflicted daughter, and to bring progress to the neglected green valley. Light comes, water flows, the land prospers. Then, on a night of innocent festivity, a monstrous crime is perpetrated. His kingdom violated, Donn dedicates himself to a terrible revenge that can only destroy the avenger as well as the hunted

Sullivan was a born actor. Blessed and cursed with the artist's gifts and temperament in full measure, he could hold an audience, or a woman's heart, in the palm of his hand. From a boyhood stuffed with multi-coloured dreams to defy Galway's slums, through fit-ups and fairs in the Irish countryside, to struggle and renown in Dublin, London and New York, his crowded, generous journey was rich in comedies, disappointments and surprises. Success was as capricious as the seasons. But when it came, was it enough? Could it replace the one girl who had learnt always to expect the unexpected from Sullivan . . . ?

This is the story of Stephen O'Riordan, a true son of the wild and beautiful land of Connemara, of his hopes and ambitions, and of his passionate and stormy love for Kathleen, sister of his bitterest enemy . . . It is also the story of Ireland after twenty-five years of liberty, like Stephen new in its freedom and thought yet primitive in its emotions, its people witty, bawdy, boozy, hard-working, loud-voiced or gentle - but never dull . . .

Like his father before him, Donn is born to the now mythical role of the Lord of the Mountain, a remote community in rural Ireland, unmarked by the passage of time. But Donn longs for a wider kingdom. He deserts his bride, roams the world, fights in wars, is footloose - yet finds that he is homesick. Sixteen years later he returns to take up the threads of his old life, to learn to love his afflicted daughter, and to bring progress to the neglected green valley. Light comes, water flows, the land prospers. Then, on a night of innocent festivity, a monstrous crime is perpetrated. His kingdom violated, Donn dedicates himself to a terrible revenge that can only destroy the avenger as well as the hunted

Careless of the hurts he inflicts along the way, Bart O'Breen walks his own road, as proud as the devil and as lonely as hell. In the Galway village of Boola, Bart O'Breen is a strong wilful young man who leaves trouble and harm in his wake. As always in a novel by Walter Macken, there is a host of memorable secondary characters, and an unfailing accuracy and warmth in the depiction of the life of the "plain people" of the west of Ireland. One of Walter Macken's finest novels, "Sunset on the Window-Panes" is a moving and memorable story of Irish life.

This is a vivid and memorable novel set in Dublin, 1916, during the Easter Rebellion and the bitter years which followed. Through the diverging lives of two young brothers the agony of Ireland during these harrowing times is witnessed. It is the time of the Sinn Fein, of the dreaded Tans, of terrible deeds and of loyalties strained to breaking-point and beyond.

These stories, rich with the passion and drama which characterises all of Walter Macken’s writing, were conceived by the author as a thematic collection, providing a stunning evocation of the life and people of Galway in the 1940s. They document a time and place, yet they also have a timeless appeal in their portrayal of the people of the city whom Macken knew and loved so well. Full of insight and humour, they do not romanticise the past; rather they celebrate the qualities of ordinary people in their struggles with poverty, with political conservatism and with the sea, ever-present elements in the life of the city of the tribes. Walter Macken has long been one of Ireland’s most popular writers. A novelist who defined in fiction the world of the ‘plain people’ of the west of Ireland, he was a master of the short story. First published posthumously in 1997, these magnificent stories are now brought back to life in the Modern Irish Classics series.